Pop-Tarts Creator William Post Dead at 96: 'Extraordinary Life'

The man credited with inventing Pop-Tarts has been described as a humble person who achieved "legendary accomplishments," following his death aged 96.

William "Bill" Post died on Saturday, February 10, an obituary published in his local newspaper in Michigan, The Grand Rapids Press, reported. He is survived by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"In spite of an extraordinary life and legendary accomplishments, Bill remained a humble man of God with a servant's heart that seemed to overflow with generosity," it read.

From the age of 21, Post worked as a manager at biscuit manufacturer Hekman—now the Keebler Company—and rose to managing the company's plant in Grand Rapids.

There, in 1964, he was asked by breakfast food company Kellogg's to create a new product that could be made in a toaster.

In an interview with local news channel WWMT in 2021, Post said that there were "many naysayers" because to make the double-layered pastry a 60-ton piece of equipment had to be raised on a platform. There were also fears of the frosting on the outside melting in a toaster.

"Some of my good friends would say, 'I don't know, Bill.' They would tell us it's not such a good idea," he said at the time.

However, Pop-Tarts quickly became a success, and Post went on to work as a consultant for Kellogg's. He told WWMT his favorite flavor remained the original strawberry, and that he always kept a box in his car—which bore a personalized Pop-Tart numberplate—as a snack.

Despite being credited as the breakfast treat's inventor, the obituary quoted Post as saying: "I assembled an amazing team that developed Kellogg's concept of a shelf-stable toaster pastry into a fine product that we could bring to market in the span of just four months."

It noted he was raised as one of seven children of Dutch immigrants, and attended Grand Rapids Christian High School. While still in high school he had a part-time job washing Hekman trucks.

After serving in the Army Air Corps in Japan, he returned home to wed his high school sweetheart, Florence Schut, to whom he remained married for the next 72 years. He also served on school, church and YMCA boards and was a member of Gideons International.

"He was asked to tell the Pop Tart story to young people in countless classrooms and always enjoyed accommodating those requests, giving his testimony of God's goodness to 'the son of an immigrant,' and bringing some of his unending supply of Pop Tarts with him," the obituary recounted.

In May, Netflix is due to release a movie about the creation of the Pop-Tart, written and starring Jerry Seinfeld, and co-starring Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant and Bill Burr, according to Deadline Hollywood.

It follows a slew of origins story docu-dramas about the creation of now-famous products, such as Air, about Nike's Air Jordan shoe, starring Ben Affleck, and Tetris, about the eponymous computer game, starring Taron Egerton.

Update 2/14/24, 5:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include further information.